ID Problems

and insights

Category: Passerines

26/05/11

Basra Reed a New species for Bahrain

Last weekend myself (Brenden) and Abdulla put up a selection of nets in Ali Agricultural Farm to see what might be passing through. Towards dark I picked an unusual reed-type warbler out of the bottom shelf of one of the nets. Immediately I saw it I knew it was unusual, a bit too big for reed warbler and too small for great reed. I stuck it in a bag and finished the net-round. We processed the other birds and then I gave the bag to Abdulla, saying nothing. He immediately knew we had something different also. We decided to put an A ring on it due to the small size of the tarsus. Having gone through Svenson ID and looked at the Collins bird guide to the birds of Europe and the middle east we concluded that the bird was a Basra Reed Warbler. The blue/grey colour of the legs was particularly striking. There was no streaking on the breast or flanks. Unfortunately darkness had decended and the photographs were very poor. I managed to salvage 2 which give some indication of the wing and head details. Detail measurements and wing formula are below..

17/09/09

unknown - on the larger side of small

Seen this last weekend in an acacia tree - pic one the original taken with full zoom on my 500mm lens and pic two cut out from the same of the bird in question. The bird was seen across a wide expanse of cultivated land and in my rent a wreck totally inaccessible unless I wanted to spend a few hours digging it out. Any ideas most appreciated.

Well struck out - this one will remain UNKOWN but its either a Flycatcher or at the outside a Warbler!!

Little Black Job

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